To require the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, to provide detailed briefings to Congress on any recent discussions conducted between United States Government and the Government of Taiwan and any potential transfer of defense articles or defense services to the Government of Taiwan.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

July 29, 2008

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Mr. TANCREDO, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. PENCE, and Mr. MCCOTTER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

A BILL

To require the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, to provide detailed briefings to Congress on any recent discussions conducted between United States Government and the Government of Taiwan and any potential transfer of defense articles or defense services to the Government of Taiwan.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:

(1) Relations between the United States and Taiwan are governed by the Taiwan Relations Act (22 U.S.C. 3301 et seq.; Public Law 96-8), three joint communiques, and the Six Assurances.

(2) The Taiwan Relations Act has governed United States arms sales to Taiwan since 1979, when the United States extended diplomatic recognition to the People's Republic of China.

(3) The Taiwan Relations Act specifies that it is United States policy, among other things, to consider any nonpeaceful means to determine Taiwan's future `a threat' to the peace and security of the Western Pacific and of `grave concern' to the United States, `to provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character', and `to maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion' jeopardizing the security or social or economic system of Taiwan's people.

(4) Section 3(a) of the Taiwan Relations Act states that `the United States will make available to Taiwan such defense articles and defense services in such quantity as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability'.

(5) Section 3(b) of the Taiwan Relations Act stipulates that both the President and the Congress shall determine the nature and quantity of such defense articles and services `based solely' upon their judgment of the needs of Taiwan.

(6) Taiwan has recently reversed a downward trend in defense spending with a $2.2 billion increase in 2007 to $9.8 billion and the Defense Ministry has requested and the Executive Yuan approved a 2008 budget of $10.6 billion, an increase of 15 percent.

(7) According to the Congressional Research Service, the executive branch has yet to send any arms transfer notifications to Congress during calendar year 2008, including notifications on at least seven pending arms sales programs with a total value of about $11 billion that encompass programs on a submarine design, Patriot PAC-3 missile defense systems, and Apache and Blackhawk helicopters.

(8) Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou stated on July 12, 2008, that the island needs to secure defensive weapons from the United States, despite a warming of relations with mainland China.

(9) On July 16, 2008, Admiral Timothy Keating, Commander of the Hawaii-based United States Pacific Command, acknowledged that the executive branch had imposed a `freeze' on arms sales to Taiwan, a decision that is in contradiction to longstanding United States law and policy.

SEC. 2. MANDATORY CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS.

(a) Briefings- Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, and not later than 120 days thereafter, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall provide detailed briefings to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate on--

(1) any discussions conducted between any executive branch agency and the Government of Taiwan during the covered period; and

(2) any potential transfer of defense articles or defense services to the Government of Taiwan.

(b) Definitions- In this section:

(1) COVERED PERIOD- The term `covered period' means--

(A) with respect to the initial briefings required under subsection (a), the period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on the date of the initial briefings; and

(B) with respect to the subsequent briefings required under subsection (a), the period beginning on the day after the date of the initial briefings required under subsection (a) and ending on the date of the subsequent briefings.

(2) EXECUTIVE BRANCH AGENCY- The term `executive branch agency' has the meaning given the term `agency' in section 551(1) of title 5, United States Code.

(3) DEFENSE ARTICLE- The term `defense article' has the meaning given the term in section 47 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2794 note).

(4) DEFENSE SERVICE- The term `defense service' has the meaning given the term in section 47 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2794 note).